Interim rail budget has let down Chhattisgarh: Raman Singh

Raipur, Feb 13 (IANS) The interim railway budget presented Friday by Railways Minister Lalu Prasad has let down expectations of Chhattisgarh despite the fact that the state generates high revenue for the railways, Chief minister Raman Singh said here. “The interim rail budget is disappointing, it has let down expectations of millions of people of Chhattisgarh,” said Singh in his reaction to the interim budget.

“Though the South East Central Railway (SECR) - which has its headquarters in the state’s Bilaspur - generates highest revenue for the railways, Chhattisgarh has been totally ignored,” remarked Singh, who heads Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.

Singh was critical of the Rowghat railway line project being ignored in the interim budget. The line is considered the future lifeline for the state-based Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), the flagship unit of the public sector Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).

He said that surprisingly the interim budget did not have any provision for the long-pending project that would give the BSP access to Rowghat areas in the state’s Bastar region to use its vast stocks of iron ore.